Driving in Poland

A surviving example of the once
popular larger 'Polish Fiat' model and driver making their way along a
very minor road in the Polish countryside.

Poland is without a doubt one of the
worst places for car drivers in Europe. The country has some of the
worst roads; the highest numbers of cars stolen; and large numbers of
drivers who do not meet accepted Western European norms in terms of driving skills.

Poland's roads are in general of a very
poor quality, and are badly designed and maintained. Roads are
often full of deep potholes or track-like ruts, where the wheels of
heavy trucks have passed along time and time again. Some minor roads
have not been improved since they were first built decades before. Crossroads and road
junctions are often not marked with stop lines, and the white road
markings on the road where they do exist are almost invisible. New road
building, largely financed by the European Union, is on the whole badly designed and
planned and the finish is of a poor standard. For example: many new
roundabouts are actually not round, but are designed so that drivers
need not slow down, as they approach them. Because of this many drivers
drive right across at high speed without even slowing down! Cars going
around these squared 'roundabouts' having to brake or crash into the
cars not slowing down.

Over 50,000 cars are reported as stolen
or car-jacked / hijacked in Poland every year. The most popular targets
for car thieves are German models like BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Audi; and
Volvo station wagons. Cars with number plates from outside of Poland
appear to be particular targets. Criminals have been known to simulate a
car crash or flat tyre or pose as police officers in order to get the
car to stop and then steal it. Cars with German plates, in particular,
might also receive additional attention from vandals or thieves
impressed by the car's radio. For these reasons car rental companies
from places like Germany will usually not permit their hire cars to
enter Poland. Our advice would be that if you plan a visit to Poland and have a
car with foreign registation plates, think twice before driving it into
Poland!

A large number of Polish drivers drive in a way
which would be totally unacceptable outside of Poland. Many of these
habits are extremely dangerous and account for many thousands of deaths
each year on Polish roads. These rather primitive driving habits include
but are not limited to: overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic, and
then expecting the oncoming car and the car being overtaken to flee into
the emergency lane; overtaking on blind bends; aggresive tailgating;
overtaking on the inside on dual carriageway roads; exceeding the speed limit
in the most dangerous locations; and an almost total disregard for
traffic signals. For a number of Polish drivers a red light means stop only if another
vehicle will or is obstructing your path or if you are likely to be seen
by a policeman. Jumping lights, which have just changed to red, is
commonplace. Cars generally only stop at zebra
crossings if there are pedestrians in the middle of the road.

Message: Everything you have said is
true:-( I drove 1200KM in Poland last year - and never thought I
would come out alive! My poor family - came with me - what was I
thinking of? We - had a very good friend - a Pole living here driving an
English car in Poland - we followed him all the time - but he and I were
scared s**tl*ss Roads appalling, police appalling - long story - but 12
months on - phew am so glad I ain't doing it again!!

---

Name: Nigel

Location: Milton Keynes

Message: The verdict on Polish roads and drivers
is spot on but if you dont have any manners or sense it doesn't matter
how good the road is! I lived there for 11 years, I drove a truck
through all of eastern europe,and I consider their road manners to be
near the worst I've seen. There are some good drivers too, but the
general situation is one of a complete and total disregard for everyone
and everything around them. I quote the poor residents of Sochaczew as
the finest example. They were completely terrorized by bad drivers and
trucks until they hasd to protest by blocking the roads and eventually
got a diversion. I salute you the people of Sochaczew, I am a trucker
who felt very sorry for you - we were not all the same. I feel it
strange that Britain and Ireland have chosen Poland as the source of its
new professional, well mannered HGV drivers - they dont have many and we
have enough pr*cks of our own to sort out already. Money talks I
suppose.